Otakuism

I can confidently say that UBW is a definite step up from the Fate route, mainly because all the arcane little rules and weird pacing are not done here. With the groundwork out of the way UBW hits the road running. There’s almost a constant sense of urgency and battle, far better than the “fight Saber/learn magic from Tohsaka” days of Fate. With the storyline moving away from the anime things feel very fresh now, even if I did know what was going to happen. Shirou vs. Archer and Gilgamesh was a joy to finally read.

If there’s one thing UBW makes clear, it’s that Shirou is fucked up in the head. In Fate all one saw was his stubbornness, here we get even more of what makes him tick. His whole ideology is borrowed from someone else, he has no idea how to have fun at all, and even if he knows his path is going to lead to a miserable death he heads down it anyways. Guy’s even more messed up than Shiki. I’m not quite sure how Rin fell in love with him. Rin is awesome in this route, also. Full blown tsundere attitude here. Her freak out moments were the best.

But the real star of the route is Archer, in all his manly, twisted glory. Every single scene with him was awesome, and by the end he really is a complex character in his own right, much more so than any other character. He may be a grouchy, cynical, and sarcastic bastard, but he’s a true hero aka. he’s GAR, people! The main theme of the story - what is a hero? - continues in this route, being questioned every which way but not outright rejected. No, that’s what Heaven’s Feel is for. As for Heaven’s Feel, let’s just say the long wait begins anew. If it comes out in 2012 then we’ll know the prophecies are true and it is the end of the world. But at least we’ll have Heaven’s Feel to play, so everything will be A-ok.